There has been speculation about re-organising the Forensic Science Service (FSS) for a few months and today it was announced the laboratory in Euxton, near Chorley, will close with the loss of 185 jobs possibly in 2011. The jobs will be focussed on certain key locations based on skills rather than local police support and 3 sites will close.
There was a debate in parliament in June in which Lindsay Hoyle, David Borrow and Ben Wallace spoke on behalf of their constituents in this area and against the way the government was implementing cost cutting in the FSS. The point was also made that the nearby University of Central Lancashire has an acclaimed course on forensic science in conjunction with the FSS.
If the government is serious about regeneration of industrial areas these skilled and specialised jobs are a key part of the mix.
Whether there is a loss of local service isn’t clear to me. How do the FSS work if their lab is 100 miles away – do they have travelling forensic scientists who are always on the road or are there forensic staff in each police force who send samples to the FSS labs.
It seems the service is likely to be sold and to get the most value it is being set up in a commercial way. It is also selling its services abroad so it isn’t just supporting local police. The point was made in the June debate that the government isn’t so good at supervising these arrangements and people sometimes walk away with sacksful of money. Although in my own opinion that might be a red herring depending on the overall gain / loss.
As a side issue the FSS proudly holds the DNA database containing 4 million samples. I’m sure there are a lot of benefits of such a database and the police would like everyone to be on it, but in my opinion keeping samples from people who are not charged or proven guilty is a breach of civil liberties and should be stopped immediately.
In conclusion this area of Lancashire doesn’t want job losses, skilled job losses, effect on police service, effect on UCLAN and a step backwards on regeneration.